Hypervisors and consoles for running virtual machines — on a desktop, on bare metal, or across a pool of hosts — with an honest note on what each licence allows.
VirtualBox runs VMs on your PC (the base package is free even at work), vSphere Hypervisor is free ESXi for labs and testing, XCP-ng Center manages open-source XCP-ng hosts from Windows, and VMmanager is a KVM control panel sold as shareware.
Guide: Free virtualization software: what is actually free
VMmanager is a web-based control panel for KVM virtualisation on Linux hosts: create and manage virtual machines, networks and storage from a browser. It is shareware (conditionally free) — there is no separate free edition any more, so plan for a licence if you keep using it.
XCP-ng Center isn’t about flashy dashboards or vendor lock-in—it’s about giving seasoned administrators a crisp, responsive console that ties together every facet of their XCP-ng environment. If you value direct control, clear performance insights, and seamless live operations—without the overhead of heavyweight management suites—this is the tool that keeps your virtualized world running smoothly.
vSphere Hypervisor is the free edition of VMware ESXi: a bare-metal hypervisor for labs, development and testing. The free licence is for non-production use, limits hosts to 2 physical CPUs and VMs to 8 vCPUs, and cannot be managed by vCenter or backed up through the API — ideal for learning and home labs, not for production workloads.
VirtualBox runs virtual machines on an ordinary Windows, macOS or Linux desktop — ideal for test environments, lab setups and older systems. The base package is free, including at work; the Extension Pack is free only for personal and educational use. Reliable, well documented and easy to start with.
